Cheekshu
Member
Hello! I'm Cheekshu
This is my second time growing in a DWC, but the first time was sort of winging it and everything worked out perfectly, haha... good old beginners luck I guess. This time however, things aren't going so smoothly. The plants didn't start to develop any real growth until about a week ago, even then it seems to be super slow progress. I'm on day 37 and the girls are quite small for their age, but have grown well over the last week.
I have one Kalashnakova that just never continued growing. I've kept her rock wool soaked, and have used a tiny bit of compost tea on her... she stays green in the center, but after 37 days she hasn't gotten more than like an inch tall, do I just give up on her now? I've attached a picture of her for visual.
The size difference in the plants is also crazy! I don't know if it's the type of containers they are growing in or what, but Headband is really out pacing the others. I've also attached a picture of that size difference.
I was using white vinegar to adjust the pH (thinking this was more natural and healthier for the plants), but after about 2 weeks I noticed some NASTY build up in the reservoir. After research I'm guessing that it is "Mother" bacteria from the vinegar sitting. I added Aquashield and Hygrozyme to the reservoir water and started using pH Down for alterations needed. Should I just dump the res and start all over again with water? Or will those 2 products help get the water back on track and dissolve that Mother bacteria? It hasn't seemed to affect the plants in anyway so far, the water just has little bacteria colonies floating in it.
My pH has also been VERY hard to control from the beginning. It constantly goes up over 7.0, I have to bring it back down every day. Using that much vinegar obviously caused problems with the reservoir, so will using pH Down everyday also cause issues? I use RO water, add nutes to get my PPMs up around 300 and then adjust my pH to 5.6-6.0. Still, everyday I test it again (with both a pen and color drip test) and it's back up near 7.0 or over. That is in every one of my reservoirs. (I have 3 reservoirs... 2 15 gallon coolers and 1 5 gallon bucket. The plant in the bucket seems to be doing the best so far. Though I do have to put frozen water bottles in her water to keep the reservoir temperatures under control. Where with the coolers it stays 65-70 all the time, which keeping water temperature under control was my intent when deciding to try coolers with the DWC.)
Normal humidity in the tent is 40-70% depending on how well the retarded humidifier I bought wants work. And room temps range 75-85. (Unless I have the tent open then the humidity drops significantly).
I'm excited to learn more about this, I LOVE it! And would be thankful for any ideas, fixes or knowledge anyone might like to throw my way. Thanks guys!
-Cheekshu
PICTURES:
This is my second time growing in a DWC, but the first time was sort of winging it and everything worked out perfectly, haha... good old beginners luck I guess. This time however, things aren't going so smoothly. The plants didn't start to develop any real growth until about a week ago, even then it seems to be super slow progress. I'm on day 37 and the girls are quite small for their age, but have grown well over the last week.
I have one Kalashnakova that just never continued growing. I've kept her rock wool soaked, and have used a tiny bit of compost tea on her... she stays green in the center, but after 37 days she hasn't gotten more than like an inch tall, do I just give up on her now? I've attached a picture of her for visual.
The size difference in the plants is also crazy! I don't know if it's the type of containers they are growing in or what, but Headband is really out pacing the others. I've also attached a picture of that size difference.
I was using white vinegar to adjust the pH (thinking this was more natural and healthier for the plants), but after about 2 weeks I noticed some NASTY build up in the reservoir. After research I'm guessing that it is "Mother" bacteria from the vinegar sitting. I added Aquashield and Hygrozyme to the reservoir water and started using pH Down for alterations needed. Should I just dump the res and start all over again with water? Or will those 2 products help get the water back on track and dissolve that Mother bacteria? It hasn't seemed to affect the plants in anyway so far, the water just has little bacteria colonies floating in it.
My pH has also been VERY hard to control from the beginning. It constantly goes up over 7.0, I have to bring it back down every day. Using that much vinegar obviously caused problems with the reservoir, so will using pH Down everyday also cause issues? I use RO water, add nutes to get my PPMs up around 300 and then adjust my pH to 5.6-6.0. Still, everyday I test it again (with both a pen and color drip test) and it's back up near 7.0 or over. That is in every one of my reservoirs. (I have 3 reservoirs... 2 15 gallon coolers and 1 5 gallon bucket. The plant in the bucket seems to be doing the best so far. Though I do have to put frozen water bottles in her water to keep the reservoir temperatures under control. Where with the coolers it stays 65-70 all the time, which keeping water temperature under control was my intent when deciding to try coolers with the DWC.)
Normal humidity in the tent is 40-70% depending on how well the retarded humidifier I bought wants work. And room temps range 75-85. (Unless I have the tent open then the humidity drops significantly).
I'm excited to learn more about this, I LOVE it! And would be thankful for any ideas, fixes or knowledge anyone might like to throw my way. Thanks guys!
-Cheekshu
PICTURES:
- Picture 1 = Kala A that never seems to grow
- Picture 2 = SDG
- Picture 3 = Size difference
- Picture 4: Light distance from plants
